A.Word.A.Day--bedizen

Today's word and the word distaff share the same origin, dis- (a bunch of
flax). A distaff is a staff with a cleft for holding wool, flax, etc. from
which thread is drawn while being spun by hand. In olden times, spinning
was considered a woman's work, so distaff figuratively referred to women.
Distaff side (also spindle side) refers to the female side of a family. The
corresponding male equivalent of the term is spear side (also sword side).
Distaffs and spears are long gone -- what would be the modern stereotypical
replacements of these terms?

"When Daisy wants to bedizen herself to impress tout San Francisco, she
has her servants add the crowning touch by dusting her with gold."
Dennis Drabelle; Frisco Business; The Washington Post; Jan 24, 1992.

"It was still basically 'Krausmeyer's Alley,' but it was a 'Krausmeyer's
Alley' adorned and bedizened with reminiscences of every other
burlesque-show curtain raiser and afterpiece in the repertory.'
H.L. Mencken; Stare Decisis (later renamed A Bum's Christmas);
New Yorker; Dec 30, 1944.

This week's theme: miscellaneous words.

X-Bonus

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose
our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. -Abraham Lincoln,
16th U.S. President (1809-1865)

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